Why Trump Won't Fire Sessions

Posted by Political Quarterback17pc on March 03, 2017

Congressional Democrats will keep demanding Attorney General Jeff Sessions' scalp, but President Trump is unlikely to give it to them anytime soon.

Sessions is under fire for meeting twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States without disclosing it to the Senate during his confirmation hearings. He announced Thursday that he would recuse himself from all investigations related to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Democrats were hardly mollified. "Attorney General Sessions is right to recuse himself, but the fact is he should have done so the moment he was sworn in," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "The DOJ regulations that led him to recuse himself existed three weeks ago when I first asked him to do so and were just as dispositive then as they are now."

Some Republican strategists say if anything, the GOP is being too hard on Sessions.

"Republicans have got to stop being afraid of their own shadows and falling on their swords prematurely," said GOP strategist Ford O'Connell. "There's no need to hit the fire alarm too early. They're kneecapping themselves."

"This is a straight communications battle," O'Connell said. "When Van Jones and Chris Wallace are raving about Trump's speech, there's no need to hand the news cycle back to the Democrats."